How Intermountain shifted 50% of behavioral health patients out of an ED—and cut unnecessary admissions

Last year, Intermountain Healthcare‘s McKay-Dee Hospital in Utah opened a behavioral health center in hopes of reducing the number of patients who presented at the hospital’s ED with a behavioral health crisis—and officials say the investment is paying off, Maria Castellucci writes for Modern Healthcare.

In the years before the new center opened, from 2012 to 2017, McKay-Dee had seen a 33% increase in patients treated for a behavioral health crisis. According to Castellucci, most of those patients arrived in the hospital’s busy ED, where patients can often experience long wait times before they see a specialist.

To address the problem and improve care for behavioral health patients, Intermountain created the Behavioral Health Access Center (BHAC), a 24/7 facility located just across the street from the hospital’s ED.